#and all Obi-Wan does is grieve

[tragedy-for-sale]

Old Wounds Never Heal

I really just want to talk about the last frame. But throughout all frames, you can see his concern, his worry, his discomfort.

In the first frame, you can see how he's trying to advocate for himself. He's trying so hard to prove that Maul is a threat they cannot overlook but in his desperation his emotions get the better of him, he's hanging on by a thread, he's on the verge falling back into his grief, you can see it in his eyes, he wants so desperately to be heard that he loses his argumentative credibility as a Jedi, there is no emotion, there is peace, but Obi-Wan cannot be at peace. It's a little hard to find peace in knowing Qui-Gon's murderer is alive.

It's the Jedi Code that keeps him from actually addressing how he truly felt. There is no death, there is the Force; But Obi-Wan, oh Obi-Wan, he knows of the unfathomable horror that is to watch someone you love die, to watch their last breath physically leave their body. There is the Force and there is the hand of death, ripping Qui-Gon from Obi-Wan's arms leaving him with nothing but the Force.

Obi-Wan looks to Anakin because what if he's feeling this all too deeply? What if the Chancellor is right? What if Obi-Wan is not being the Jedi he should be? He looks to Anakin because he would know, Anakin would know.

In the last frame, Obi-Wan realizes his feelings are being dismissed, but he's not supposed to have feelings, not for this anyway, for they were born through attachment, through his grief for Qui-Gon. Jedi cannot form attachments. So, he holds himself close, because once again, he has to bury all his pain.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Failing to Thrive then Thriving in failure

I just had the funniest notion. Time travel comedy, but the twist is that Palpatine is the one to go back in time. 

So we start just after Kenobi, Palpatine has been emperor for about a decade, he succeeded. The Sith plan is complete, he has everything he had dreamed of and worked toward for a decade…and he is so bored. He never realized that 90% of his joy actually came from pretending to be a benevolent Chancellor and the intrigue of fooling people.  Now he has shown his true colors and could not go back to pretending (it simply would not work). Being the Sith in charge is not as fun as he thought it would be. Even getting to openly torture people has lost its appeal after 10 years.

It’s ok for Vader. For one Vader was never interested in those intrigues in the first place. For two 45% of Vader brain is taken up by trying to resurrect Padme Amidala, 50% is taken up by Obi Wan Kenobi (Palpatine is not sure if Vader wants to kill Kenobi, Kriff Kenobi, make Kenobi tuck Vader in every night and tell him is it going to be alright, Force Kenobi to help Vader resurrected Padme, or make sure Kenobi is eating, taking care of himself, and has a good enough blanket), leaving only 5% for everything else.  

Frankly if this is what Kenobi had to deal with before the war, Palpatine is somewhat impressed he got anything done.

Vader isn’t bored. Palpatine’s assorted lesser minions are not bored, they are living the dream of being as bigoted as their little fascist hearts desire. But Palpatine just could not find joy any longer. 

I do want it clear. Palpatine is not repentant. He does not regret the deaths that he caused, the genocide, the enslavement, any of it. He’s just bored. 

One day Palpatine finds a book, or maybe an artifact, or possibly a scrap of paper with an archaic formula. The title roughly translates to ‘Sith Master Time Travel’ (Listen The Son was also very bored, and being outside of Space Time meant He wanted to see what would happen). Palpatine is able to time travel, but only as far back as when he became a Sith Master. It was also a one time deal, he would not be able to use the method again AND it would destroy his origin timeline (not that that actually factored into Palpatine’s decision at all).  Not to mention he would essentially be possessing and killing his previous, alternate timeline self. 

Of course Palpatine time travels. He goes all the way back to the moment he became the Sith Master (it turns out the Sith titles are not just titles), looking at the still warm corpse of Hugo Damask, just as the Naboo crisis is wrapping up. 

Now Palpatine had already decided to do some things differently.  At first he was still working outward the Grand Sith Plan, if trying to keep his ‘Kindly Politician’ mask a bit longer, however he has decided that instead of Vader (or possibly in addition to Vader, if things get boring again) he will get Obi Wan Kenobi as his apprentice, figuring that there must have been a reason that every Sith Apprentice for 20 years ends up obsessed with the man (also because he thinks it would be funny to corrupt the Jedi’s ‘Guiding Light’). Dooku and all the pieces needed to start the Clone wars are already mostly in place. It is just a matter of maintaining until the clones are the right age.  So he does what he needs to to maintain the Empire building plans and decides to focus on corrupting Obi Wan. 

He fails, utterly. He fails so fully that Obi Wan did not even notice his attempts at corruption. Like he knew it would take time to corrupt a Jedi, he had done before after all, but he still expected at least a little change within the first year. There was nothing. 

And it was not a case of Obi Wan not trusting Palpatine. This is still a decade before the war. Obi Wan is a grieving, freshly knighted,  trying to keep up with a nine year old with somewhat unique trauma. Palpatine knows how to get Obi Wan to feel comfortable and trust him (Palpatine probably knows too well how to get Obi wan to feel comfortable and trust him, between Dooku and Vader). Obi Wan is just, for a given value, incorruptible. 

Now Palpatine’s obsession switch has been flipped. He went into it thinking that corrupting Obi Wan would be a fun side project, a way to pass the time.  He was wrong.  He knows from the previous timeline that torture would not be effective (Listen if the torture mask specifically built to corrupt lightsiders did not make a dent after a month it is pretty well proven that torture will not cause Kenobi to fall, Palpatine knows this) nor would killing Kenobi’s loved work (again, if it didn’t last time we have some pretty concrete proof). 

So now we have Palpatine trying every method he can think of to seduce Kenobi the darkside, always just shy of admitting to being a Sith or being creepy. To the point that he has actually forgotten the Empire building he was doing. He kind of even forgets to be Sidious.  He almost ghosts Dooku, before he remembers that Dooku is Kenobi’s grandfather(that is not the correct term, Dooku tries to correct Palpatine an even dozen times before giving up) and gets Dooku involved in the corruption that is STILL. GOING. NOWHERE.

Dooku basically becomes Grandpa Dooku to both Obi Wan and Anakin, and falls back into the Light while trying unsuccessfully to corrupt Obi Wan to the Dark. Due to darkside vow complications (also because I think it would be really funny) Dooku is not able to say, imply, or otherwise do anything to make the Jedi suspicious that Palaptine is a Sith. Also, to a certain extent he thinks that as long as Palpatine is focused on corrupting his incorruptible grandson, the other Sith is not thinking about galactic domination (To be fair he is correct).  

Palpatine spends most of his time trying to corrupt Obi Wan, while keeping up the act used to maintain Obi Wan’s trust. The thing is Palpatine is fully aware that Anakin in the original timeline was about observant as a particularly dense brick wall and would not have realized that the persona of ‘My friend Palaptine’ did not match the reality of ‘My pal Friendpatine’. Obi Wan would realize if his act was not consistent. 

So Palpatine decided to keep the act up 24/7.  And everyone knows that your actions become your habits become your personality. 

Somewhere in year 8 Palpatine forgets how to Sith. 

Technically he is still a darksider but not the extra layer of fucked up that comes from being an actual Sith. And he still has not even made a dent in Obi Wan’s light. He has also, almost single handedly, derailed the war that had been brewing and fixed about 40% of the corruption in the Senate.  All without killing a single senator.

Palpatine spends most of his time very confused. 

Palpatine lets his term as Chancellor end, having gone down in history as one of the most beloved Chancellors in history.  The Clones are found and mostly are inducted as an arm of the Jedi Order. Jango Fett is given a metric ton of therapy, which helps him see that the Jedi were not actually at fault for Galidraan (Jango had, in fact, been the person to escalate things to violence) before he is allowed to take Boba back into the galaxy. By that point the Clones want little to do with him. 

For the rest of his life Palpatine tries, unsuccessfully, to corrupt Obi Wan (who never noticed). At this point he is genuinely friends with a number of Jedi (He and Mace Windu have a surprising amount in common, including a love of the theater and a mild exasperation for Anakin Skywalker's antics). He is an honored guest at both the CodyWan and the Anidala Weddings (including a Jedi based wedding ceremony).

Honestly he is having the most fun of his life. 

He is also never caught as a darksider. He never figures out how that is possible either.

[now-you-sound-like-a-jedi]

thinking about this scene again

Cause I've seen a lot of different people's takes on this floating around on my dash recently, so I thought I'd add mine to the mix.

You could easily interpret this as a shameless attempt at a guilt trip and Bo-Katan being a hypocrite, etc etc. and that's a totally valid interpretation, but it's always seemed a little easy/one-dimensional to me, and I do think there's another perspective that's actually more interesting:

Bo-Katan herself is bound to be conscious of the fact that she doesn't really have a leg to stand on here. She knows she played a part in creating this situation, and that snipping at Obi-Wan for not caring enough about Satine is very much throwing stones from a glass house.

But when you consider her internal conflict, of fundamentally disagreeing with what Satine stood for versus memories of a time when they weren't enemies versus her own guilt over her perceived failure to save Satine versus the fact that, after everything, she was still her sister, it's easy to imagine all of this combining to leave her feeling like "am I allowed to grieve? Am I allowed to be sad?"

But, of course, this is Bo-Katan, so she's hardly about to work through this constructively. Instead, she channels it all into hunting down Maul, and whether it's justice or revenge or simply a destructive way of handling grief/guilt doesn't really matter to her.

And then she meets Obi-Wan, who should want the same thing, who (in her mind) has infinitely more of a right to these feelings of grief and loss than she does, because he was there for Satine when she wasn't, because he cared about Satine while Bo-Katan behaved as though she hated her, so his grief would at least seem rational...

... and yet outwardly Obi-Wan is Mr Perfectly Fine. If he feels anything like what she does, he doesn't show it.

So it could be a guilt trip, it could be hypocrisy, or it could be a genuine reflection of what this looks like to her, a frustrated questioning of "why am I, the one who hurt and betrayed and failed her, still so hurt and angry about her death while you, the one who was supposed to love her, aren't?"

[gffa]

Final verdict on Padawan's Pride? Feel free to spoil as I'm really curious about your thoughts on this!

I braced myself before listening (knowing how much anti jedi stuff bleeds into anything star wars these days...) but I'm about an hour in and surprisingly (tentatively) enjoying it! There have been a few moments that genuinely made me laugh out loud! Like Anakin straight up going "What would *you* know about intimidation?" to poor Obi-Wan sfghdjdkdlkl & Obi-Wan insisting to Yoda that they both deserve to be punished for Anakin sneaking off even after the council basically lets them off the hook and Anakin furiously shaking his head at him to shut!! up!!! & that mini Vader tease when Anakin's getting ready for the race!!

I'm enjoying Obi-Wan's characterization in this a lot so far, and I don't want to punt Anakin off a cliff like I usually do, which is nice.

Obi-Wan still grieving for Qui-Gon and spending his nights staying up to investigate his death got me right in the feels :( Him over thinking every single thing he does with Anakin while Anakin's thinking he's basically emotionless,,, but then when Obi-Wan's trying to awkwardly apologise/connect with him later and being vulnerable, Anakin is completely uncomfortable & internally going OBI-WAN??? HAS?? FEELINGS??? ABORT!! ABORT!!! DO NOT WANT!!!

I can't give a final verdict yet--I got about an hour and a half into it, realized, okay, no, there's just too much I wanted to quote and clip out for liveblogging and Jedi Citations, so I started over and am converting to text as I go, so now I'm back up to about an hour in.

And so far I love this book! Yeah, there's a couple of moments that made me wary, like I didn't know where this was going, but honestly I think the book is doing a really, really good job of presenting the characters as having the space to actually be characters.

What I mean is, for example, Anakin saying that the Jedi Temple is a prison and he hates it--Obi-Wan's response cuts through that, (Oh, well, perhaps we should take a trip to see the younglings with the laser swords, a thing prisons are famous for.) but not at the expense of Anakin's understandable frustration. He's a bored kid who craves excitement and the rush of adventure, which is understandable! It's something he's trying to work on, he's not evil for it, it's totally reasonable and understandable, just as it's totally reasonable and understandable for Obi-Wan to point out the flaw in that statement.

But what really made me love the book is when that comment comes up later and Obi-Wan makes a joke about it, and Anakin grumbles, "I wondered when you were going to throw that in my face." and Obi-Wan smiles and says he did, too. They were bantering about it! They made a joke about it! They found it kinda funny! This is what's delightful about the book, that the feelings they both went through earlier are genuine, but they're not Direly Serious in this moment in time.

They're allowed breathing room to not be mouthpieces for a meta essay, but instead characters in a story going through things.

It's the same for Anakin being all ABORT!! ABORT!!! ABORT!!!! when Obi-Wan is having feelings at him, it's the same when Obi-Wan insists that, no, they should be punished for Anakin's mischief (when the Jedi Council basically said, okay, what we're going to do is send you on a mission, instead of any kind of punishment for either of them), it's the same when Anakin misses his mom and Tatooine.

The moments are allowed genuine emotional weight, I have such affection and heart-wrenching feelings for both Obi-Wan and Anakin here, but it's characters being given space to be characters with their own personal motivations and reasons, to have conflict between them, but both doing their best to reach out to the other, and you can see the foundations being laid for their future incredible friendship.

I'm also utterly delighted by just how many times these two are psychically connected, like they are CONSTANTLY sensing each other--Anakin sensing Obi-Wan scratching at his incoming beard is HILARIOUS, no wonder Anakin hates Obi-Wan's beard, I'd hate it, too, if it was in my mind making me itchy!

But also that they know each other, they don't have to even be looking at each other to feel what the other feels, because that's what a Force bond is--knowing someone so well that they're connected to your soul, even when you're cranky af at them.

I still have three hours of the book left to go but I've enjoyed so much already and I apologize in advance to those who are exhausted by the two hundred screenshots I'm going to be yelling about. :D

[tennessoui]

For the prompt list, nanny/single parent obikin would be amazing!!

(from this prompt list)

(the first time I answered this prompt two years ago, the nanny anakin au was born)

so to do something different, here's some gffa widowed anakin, nanny (sort of) obi-wan!

(2.5k)

It is hard to find time to grieve. There are too many things to do. Too many appointments to make, too many decisions Anakin isn’t sure he’s qualified for. Some decisions are easier than others. For example, the funeral will be on Naboo. There will be two services: a public one to honor Padmé’s public service, and a private one to honor who she was as a person. The casket will be closed, because his wife died when her cruiser exploded. There isn’t much left to bury anyway.

But some decisions are harder. Which flowers should go on her casket. What songs would she want sung and who should sing them? Would she prefer her grave closer to her ancestral home or the home she created in her adulthood?

If she told anyone the answers to these questions, it wasn’t Anakin. But then, the people who knew her best, who loved her most, died with her. Sabé, Rabé, Saché, Yané, all of her handmaidens—an assassination such broad strokes that it was impossible for it to fail.

So Anakin chooses Yali lilies, because Leia’s eyes linger on them the longest. He chooses a small Nabooian folk band to play after her service because their music is the first thing to make Luke lift his head from his coloring books in days. He formally requests that her body be buried among her ancestors, and the Nabierres agree immediately.

And he keeps telling himself that he will grieve, but there is so much to do. 

And then—then there’s after the funeral. Then there’s the rest of his life, sprawling out before him in a long, hazy road. 

There are more decisions to be made.

There are people who have opinions on them now, people who sat back and let Anakin muddle through flower arrangements and kriffing seating charts, who now step in to peer over his shoulder, monitor his every breath.

Should he really move the children back to Coruscant? Does he truly plan to continue to work as a mechanic in the Mid-Levels? Should he not think of the children, their needs? How can he support them on the thin amount of credits he makes? Would it not be better for the children to live on Naboo in the care of their grandparents and their extended family?

It would be what Padmé would have wanted.

Anakin cannot care about what Padmé would have wanted, because she isn’t here. Not to argue with him, not to make her wants known. She is dead. She doesn’t get to haunt him in the waking world too.

“What do you want?” he asks plainly, sitting down across the table from his two children. The twins blink back at him. Leia has finished her cereal. Luke has barely touched his.

“Bacon,” Luke says.

Anakin hadn’t meant for breakfast, but he figures it’s as good of a start as any. “Alright,” he agrees.

He stands once more and goes to the kitchen. It’s not exactly his domain. It was never Padmé’s either. The way Padmé grew up, food was made once you requested it—by droid, by cooking staff. Not by the hand of a Nabierre.

The way Anakin grew up, food was cobbled together carefully, sparingly no matter how much you requested it. And no matter how you cooked it, it always tasted a little like dust, which took the joy out of experimentation.

But the serving staff have been dismissed for the past two weeks to give the family time and space to grieve in private. 

(Padmé’s parents have been given a schedule for visiting hours for that exact reason.)

Anakin locates the pan; then, he locates the package of bacon strips.

When he glances up, both twins are watching him over the edge of their barstools, tiny faces showing both skepticism and incredulity.

“I want to know what you want to do,” Anakin says, raising his voice as he places the pot over the heating plate, the meat in a moment later. “Do you want to stay here with your grandmother and grandfather? Do you want to go back to Coruscant?”

The twins are quiet. Anakin twists his neck to look at them again, and they’re looking at each other, silently communicating the way only twins can.

“Where will you be?” Leia finally asks, looking at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes, bottom lip already jutting out.

Anakin blinks. “Wherever you are,” he answers.

“You won’t leave too?” Luke asks rather tremulously.

Anakin takes the pan off the heated plate and turns it off with a decisive flick of his wrist. “Of course not,” he says. “Come here.” He crouches down and barely has enough time to open his arms before the twins are there, pressing in as close as they can get to him. He holds them back just as tightly in return.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promises into Leia’s hair. “Not without you two.”

—-----------------

It becomes apparent fairly quickly that this is, by necessity, a lie.

The twins don’t want to stay on Naboo, which Anakin is secretly incredibly grateful for. He doesn’t want to either, but he knows he’d just be called selfish should he express the opinion.

But the twins don’t want to go back to Coruscant either. This makes sense as well. It would be incredibly jarring for them to go back to living in the quarters they shared with their mother, her Upper Coruscanti apartments in the nicest district of the planet, without her there.

Anakin wishes it were as simple as sticking a pin on a planet and deciding to uproot the entirety of his family to live there. 

But it’s not.

Perhaps if he were still young, nineteen, newly free and in love with the taste of that freedom, it would be.

But he’s a widower now. He has his children to think about, their futures. Any planet he chooses must have what they need as well. 

And they are four year olds who have just lost their mother. Their needs are numerous.

What makes the decision for him in the end is that his boss knows a man from Stewjon, who is willing to hire him. Who is willing to pay a premium for his expertise with mechanics.

Anakin doesn’t know the first thing about Stewjon, other than that it’s an ocean planet in the Inner Core and his dead wife always said the Senators from Stewjon were so frigid and tight-lipped because they spent the first few days of each visit trying not to be seasick on the Senate floor.

Anakin isn’t sure why this is the very first thing he tells the man—his potential boss—he meets behind the counter in the mech-shop on Stewjon.

He’s left the children with their grandparents for the week—long enough to fly from Naboo to Stewjon, meet with his potential employer, interview, apply his work practically, and fly back out.

He’d explained to both twins why they had to stay on Naboo. He’d explained many times. That hadn’t changed the betrayed look Leia had worn as she saw him off. It hadn’t wiped the tears from Luke’s eyes.

“Ah, well, I can’t say I’ve heard that one before,” the mechanic says. He sounds amused, and Anakin is incredibly shocked to hear a Coruscanti accent. Everyone he’s spoken to since arriving planetside has had such a heavy brogue that he’d honestly struggled to understand their directions to the shop—Kenobi & Sons.

Anakin lets himself look again at the man behind the counter. He’s rather clean for a mechanic, he decides. His beard is red, a common factor around these parts apparently, but his beard is short and neat, trimmed to accentuate the strong lines of his jaw. His eyes are a stormy blue, the kind of blue that matches the Stewjoni ocean.

“Between you and me though,” the man smirks and leans onto the counter with his elbow. His tunic is dark gray, white starchy fabric peeking out beneath the v-necked collar. “I’ve never been a fan of Stewjoni politicians anyway.”

“Oh?” Anakin asks, sidling a step closer to the counter. The man has the beginnings of gray at his temples, and his eyes are lined with wrinkles. They don’t make him look old though, Anakin decides. They make him look…well-lived.

“I’ve not a head for politics much at all,” his future employer shakes his head slightly with a small smile. His eyes flick up and down Anakin’s face, lingering on his lips and then lingering longer on the scar over his brow. Anakin feels rather flushed under the inspection, and he shifts his weight forward until he’s leaning up against the counter too.

There’s something about this man that’s rather…magnetic. It pulls him in. It makes him want to linger.

Good characteristic for a shopkeeper to have, though Anakin privately decides that the man before him has a face that’s wasted on mechanics, buried under some ship’s underbelly in a backroom.

“Me neither,” he admits, a moment too late to sound anything but highly distracted. It makes the man smile again though, a flash of straight white teeth.

“Is there anything you do have a head for then?” he asks. His tone is light, airy, rather teasing.

This is the strangest interview Anakin has ever had.

“Um,” he says. “Well. There’s mechanics.”

“Oh?” The man’s eyebrow lifts at an elegant angle. He props his chin on the palm of his hand and looks up at Anakin through his eyelashes. “Then why come here to us then?”

“Um,” Anakin says, and not because the man looks rather unfairly flattering like this, amber eyelashes in sharp relief against the blue of his eyes.

They’re interrupted by the sounds of clattering in the backroom, stomping and cursing. The man before him straightens with a slight sigh and picks up the closest flimsipad. “And what brings you in here today, sir?” he asks rather loudly, pitching his voice back to the other room of the shop pointedly. “Problem with your speeder? Serving droid? Cruiser? If it’s your astromech droid, I regret to inform you that I’ll have to refuse you service on account of the fact that I don’t particularly care for them.”

Anakin thinks he splutters, but whatever noise he makes is definitely drowned out by the rather irritated shout of Obi-Wan! that comes from the back.

A moment later, a man storms through the door, looking annoyed. "We will service an astomech if that's what's broken, Obi-Wan."

Now this is a man that Anakin can believe is a mechanic. His nails are blackened with oil, and his bare, burly arms carry smudges of the stuff. He’s much broader than the man—Obi-Wan—that Anakin had been talking to. He’s bald with a reddened scalp and a rather large red beard that’s the antithesis of the other man’s in every way. His clothes are dirty, loose, and the color of ash. He looks older too—whereas Obi-Wan could easily be in his thirties, this man must be pushing fifty.

He snaps at Obi-Wan in a language that Anakin doesn’t understand. Obi-Wan shrugs and hands over the flimsi pad without argument.

“Um, actually,” Anakin says, feeling incredibly wrong-footed. “Which one of you is Kenobi?”

“I am,” both of them say. Obi-Wan’s smirking slightly. The other man’s voice is louder, carrying that Stewjoni accent so obviously lacking in Obi-Wan’s speech.

The older man closes his eyes as if he’s praying for patience. “We both are,” he says. “Though if your ship’s malfunctioned, sir, I’m the Kenobi you want to see. This one’s good for naught but magic tricks.”

“I have been told I’m rather good at other things,” Obi-Wan turns his smirk full-force at Anakin, dropping his eyes to Anakin’s lips once more.

“My name is Anakin Skywalker,” he says very quickly in a very normal tone of voice that is most definitely not a squeak. “I’m here to interview for a position. As another mechanic.”

“Oh,” the older Kenobi says.

“Oh,” the younger Kenobi says in a much different tone.

The older Kenobi pinches at his nose for a moment before turning around the counter and offering his hand. “Ben,” he says. “Ben Kenobi.”

Anakin takes his hand and shakes it, eyes traveling back to Obi-Wan. Is he supposed to shake his hand too?

“I’m the Son in the sign,” Ben says gruffly as if that answers his question.

“I’m the reason it’s plural,” Obi-Wan adds, busying himself with the contents of the counter. From what Anakin can tell, the man is just messing up the carefully organized piles of receipts. 

He decides that he would rather not get the job than point this out to Ben.

Ben huffs out something in Stewjoni that sounds downright insulting, but that doesn’t stop Obi-Wan from smiling sunnily up at Anakin. “My brother enjoys bitching and moaning that I came back home when I was seventeen, but he’s awfully quick to foist his children off on me when he’s called to shift at the rig offshore and Marci’s off-planet too.”

Anakin blinks. He feels like that’s the safest answer.

“Only thing good that blasted Jedi Order ever taught you was how to handle younglings,” Ben says, and then spits on the ground as if the words themselves have left a bad taste in his mouth.

Anakin blinks and wonders if he should say something to remind the brothers that he’s here. For an interview. “And my magic tricks,” Obi-Wan rolls his eyes slightly before catching Anakin’s eye and winking. With a wave of his hand, a flimsi-sheet flies over the counter and into Anakin’s chest. He catches it unthinkingly. “Would you like to sign in, sir?” “Get out of here,” Ben barks, snatching the flimsi from Anakin’s hand and pushing it back to the counter. “Like I said, the only one’s impressed with that is the younglings.”

“I don’t know, your man looks impressed,” Obi-Wan says slyly, even as he pushes himself away from the counter and around the edge of it.

Anakin isn’t sure what he looks like. He doesn’t think impressed is the word he’d use though.

When Obi-Wan brushes past him, the static electricity in the air jumps between their shoulders. Anakin feels as if he’s been shocked.

Obi-Wan must feel it too because he stops only a few inches away and looks at Anakin. For the first time, his expression is open. Curious. Considering.

“Get!” His brother insists, and Obi-Wan obeys, throwing one last look over his shoulder at Anakin before he slips out the door.

The shop feels somehow much bigger now that the other man has left. Ben sighs and rubs a hand down his face. He looks older now. More worn. “So that was my brother,” he tells Anakin wearily. “Who you would most likely see frequently if you were to take this job. I would understand completely if you would like to start by talking compensation.”

[blackfoy]

Mandalorian Empire AU plus unknowing slave/master Obi-Wan and Cody

Cody, or Kote, whichever he likes to go by, is the Emperor of the Mandalorians. (And possibly Vode as well.) As the most powerful empire in the galaxy, many different peoples give gifts to the Emperor in an attempt to gain favor. The Empire is well known for being an enemy of the Jedi, but this is mostly because of the actions of Cody's father. Cody does not really hate Jedi, but he doesn't know much about them, so he doesn't care for them. (Cody's name among his allit is Kote, but publicly his name is Cody.)

Someone for some political reason, probably Palpatine trying to put down the Jedi and gain more power himself, gives Cody a Jedi. Cody does not really understand that he has been given a Jedi, and doesn't really know what to do. In this world Jedi are much more connected to their kyber crystals than in canon. Palpatine had taken Obi-Wan's crystal out of its protective shell, his lightsaber, and made it into a necklace which was given to Cody. When given to the Emperor, he was told that wearing the necklace was a symbol of their alliance, basically meaning it is required. Cody was a bit miffed, but he liked the strange necklace so he didn't complain about it. Unfortunately, Cody does not know what a kyber crystal is nor what it means to the Jedi prisoner that was for some reason brought to his chambers. Obi-Wan is not used to having his soul bared to the world, nor is he used to have it being worn and touched by another. He shakes and shudders near constantly for the first several days of his capture, and even once he becomes accustomed to the sensation of having another being's heart so close to his soul, he still reacts every time Cody touches the necklace in any way. It takes Cody an embarrassingly long time to figure out that the necklace has anything to do with the Jedi. His first major clue that something is up is when Quinlan Vos sneaks in to talk with Obi-Wan. They don't know that he can hear them. His first thought is that the other Jedi has come to rescue his companion, especially when he finds out they are practically brothers, and he feels like he would not really want to stop him if he does. To his surprise neither of them talk of escape, with Quinlan expressing how much Obi-Wan is missed and how sad they are at his situation, but the only talk they make of escape is how Quinlan wishes he could take Obi-Wan with him. Cody is horrified to find out that the other Jedi is mostly there to tell Obi-Wan that his child is safe and cared for, and that they mourn his loss. He comes to the uncomfortable conclusion that something is forcing Obi-Wan to stay at his side. Obi-Wan has been acting as his servant because he doesn't know what else to do with him, and much to his surprise he actually likes Obi-Wan. He had believed that this was requited when Obi-Wan did not attempt to escape, but now he is finding out that there is something else involved.

Basically since Obi-Wan's kyber is the physical representation of his soul he is now bound to Cody in a way no one has been in decades, if not centuries. Cody not only has his soul, but has somewhat bonded with it as he is the main thing that Obi-Wan can feel through it. The Jedi all know that Obi-Wan cannot leave his soul, and even if he could get it back he would still struggle horribly due to being used to Cody's presence constantly pressed against him.

Everyone who knows what a kyber crystal is and what it means sees the one around Cody's neck as a statement. People who know what it means to have a Jedi's soul tied around your neck look on in awe and fear. Cody gains quite a bit of respect that if he knew he had he would never have wanted. The Jedi look on in horror, unable to do anything as the Emperor tortures one of their own so blatantly. So cruelly. So personally. Those who were closest to Obi-Wan grieve the most, and Anakin cries long and hard for his Master, anger at the Emperor higher than he knows what to deal with. Vos tries to take care of him, and on some level his own anger at the situation helps the boy, giving him someone who understands. But even then it is still hard on them both. Any pull Palpatine might have had over Anakin is completely gone, and Palpatine doesn't even realize his mistake until long after it was made.

When Cody brings up that Obi-Wan has a child, obviously showing that he heard their conversation, Obi-Wan is immediately on the ground and begging.

Cody comes to the horrifying conclusion that Obi-Wan had taken his words and immediately assumed that he meant his child harm. He was on his knees, head pressed to the ground by his feet, begging for him to spare his child. Cody didn't even know what Obi-Wan thought he would do, but no matter what it made his gut churn thinking about it.

"I have spent the last few months, from the moment I awake to the moment I fall asleep, surrounded by you. Your heartbeat pounds in my head. Your breaths swirl in my lungs. Your footsteps rattle my bones."

Eventually when Cody finds out he wants to give it back, but Obi-Wan explains that it would hurt badly to be unbound from him, more then it did blinding him in the first place. Cody still can't stand to have things stay the way they are. He finds out that Obi-Wan is most comfortable with him in his armor because the beskar helps to muffle and protect the kyber. He has a peice of his armor recast into a casing for the crystal. He still wears it around his neck, but now it is more protected than it would be in a lightsaber. Others who do not know Cody well assume that it is a cage or some other form of torture. Many assume that the beskar is cutting the crystal off from its Jedi, therefore acting as a torture in and of itself. Both Cody and Obi-Wan meditate with the kyber every day, Cody insisting when Obi-Wan tries to tell him that he doesn't have to. Cody wants to make things as right as he can, and that means taking care of his Jedi that he had been unknowingly hurting. The casing comes apart with the Force, just like the casing of a lightsaber, so Cody feels reassured that he won't be able to take advantage of his Jedi.

The Jedi don't know what happens when you surround a crystal with beskar, so they also assume that it is another form of torture.

Cody was not expecting the Jedi to be so shaken and submissive, knowing that they are fierce warriors, but he figures it is from miscommunication and trauma. (He's not wrong, lol.) He knows how he is seen, and so he understands that this Jedi fears greatly of him. He tries his best to show the terrified Jedi that he will not hurt him, but it is a long hard process. Especially since the man is still his prisoner and far too many people seem to think he is using the man as a pleasure slave.

He was disgusted to come back to his room after a long day of dealing with people to find a shaking Jedi tied to his bed. Thankfully the man was not on his bed, nor was he naked, but he was tied by his wrists to his bedpost and it looked like at least some of his clothes had been taken from him. He went to try and reassure the shaking sobbing man, but the Jedi did nothing more than beg in soft desperate murmurs he could barely understand. The man must have been drugged, as it was obvious that he was not all there. Between the man's flushed sweaty skin and clouded pained eyes he decided the medbay would be a good place to go. It didn't seem like the man was in any state to fight, but years of bedtime stories about Jedi had him leaving the bands on his wrists. If that was blocking the man's powers, he needed to leave them on, lest they get a violent drugged-up Jedi on their hands. He delivers the man to the medics and goes about his way, but for some reason he has yet to understand the Jedi never really leaves his mind.

Obi-Wan has never been more overwhelmed in his life. The cuffs on his arms cut him off from the Force, which is disorienting enough, but they don't cut him off from his crystal. From his soul. It sings to him, overwhelmingly loud in its all-encompassing distress. He was surrounded by nothing but the Emperor. His Emperor now. He can feel nothing but the man, his soul pressed up against the skin of his chest. The Emperor's heartbeat is like a drum inside his skull, and the slightest shift of the necklace sends painful shudders up and down his body.

He doesn't know how long he is like that, unable to do anything in the face of the Emperor's touch. He could feel it keenly every time the man stroked his soul, but all he could do was thrash and sob on the medical cot he had been placed on. He could faintly register the kindness of the nurses, a cool towel over his eyes and a cup held to his lips, but it felt impossible to focus on anything happening to him when his soul was screaming at him in a strangely sweet agony. He comes back into awareness at his Emperor's touch, on his body this time, and he sobs anew at the feeling. He was already starting to fall, (not Fall) his Emperor's touch tingling in a way no one else's ever had. Was it really happening that fast? Was he already his? Feeling how his soul's song was slowly starting to smooth he knew it to be true. His pain would lessen to a hopefully tolerable degree soon, but with it came the knowledge of what was happening. The Emperor must be more learned than they had thought for him to be bonding with his soul so quickly. Part of Obi-Wan had hoped that he would last longer under the forced binding, but the rest of him yearned for a lack of pain that it knew would come from nowhere but his Emperor. The tan man spoke words of reassurance to him, and even knowing it was all lies he still leaned into his hand. His only respite would be what his Emperor gave him, so he searched for it desperately even knowing it was unlikely to be there. Somehow he found sleep in his Emperor's touch, even if his mind still rang with his soul's pained song.

(His kyber is bonding with Cody so quickly because Cody doesn't actually want to hurt Obi-Wan and the crystal can feel his good intentions.)

Cody found the crystal he had been given strange. It hummed with an energy he didn't understand, but nonetheless he felt comforted by it. For some reason he felt like the crystal was sick, or hurt. The strange impression didn't make sense, as the crystal was a rock, it was not alive. Still, he found himself stroking or thumbing over the thrumming rock, almost as if it was an animal he could soothe with pets.

He was also strangely transfixed on the Jedi still in his medbay. Even three days later the man was still in bad shape. He couldn't help but feel pity for the Jedi, especially when the man was so respectful even to his captors. Not that they had been the ones to capture the Jedi, but he was still their prisoner. According to the medics the Jedi reacted the most to his presence and touch, and while he seemed to be getting slightly better the baar're have yet to let the man try and walk. Today the man was sitting up for his food, he was slightly malnourished and needed every meal he could stomach, but he was still shaking and shivering harshly from pain. The man greeted him in a manner that he quickly decided was shy and slightly fearful. Still, the respect and deference from someone who should by all means be an enemy has him enthralled. He is quiet and gentle with his words, not wanting to further scare the man. Belatedly, they exchange names. Obi-Wan Kenobi. The name seemed right on the man. The man was hesitant about him, but Cody understood. He touched the man's arm gently at one point, and Obi-Wan shuddered and leaned slightly into his touch. He asked to make sure that he wasn't hurting the man, and Obi-Wan shook his head, leaning a bit more into his touch. He rubbed the man's hand gently and tried to reassure him that he would not be hurt in their care. Obi-Wan acted like he understood, but Cody could tell that he didn't fully believe him. A medic came to help Obi-Wan with his dishes, and Cody took the chance to ask if they had found anything new about Obi-Wan's illness. They unfortunately had not. Obi-Wan quietly informed him that his "weakness" was Force related and that he would do his best to persevere through it. It sounded like the man was trying to insist upon his worth as a person, and Cody didn't like it. He ignored it for now and asked more questions about the Force and how it was affecting Obi-Wan. Quickly he put two and two together (getting 6), glancing at the manacles still sitting tight against the man's thin wrists. It all made sense. Obi-Wan had not complained about them or tried to get them removed, and he spoke as if Cody would put the fault on Obi-Wan for not being strong enough to withstand the pain. Something in him urged him forward with an almost tender gentleness. He took Obi-Wan's wrists in his hands, ignoring the way the man gasped and shook. It took him a while to figure out how to take the cuffs off, but once he did the Jedi's reaction was immediate. The man gasped and shook harder for a moment, grasping his hands tightly, but after a few moments, his breathing started to even out and his shaking started to lessen. Obi-Wan thanked him with a wet voice, pulling his hands away in a hurry once he noticed that he had grabbed him. He told the man there was no need to thank him. After all, it was his decision that had left the man in such pain. He instructed the man to rest up before saying a soft goodbye. He probably should have been concerned about what the man might do with the freedom of his powers, but something told him Obi-Wan wouldn't cause trouble. He wanted to believe that this was because of the man's demeanor, but something still seemed off about this situation. A bad feeling was present in his gut, but he couldn't figure out what it meant. He sighed. He would just have to wait and see.

[kanansdume]

It's so weird seeing people make the claim that Obi-Wan like... genuinely sees Anakin and Vader as two different people and claiming that Ahsoka and Obi-Wan are reacting to him in the same way.

Set aside the Kenobi show for a second and just look at the OT and it's pretty clear that when he's separating Anakin and Vader that he's doing so for LUKE'S sake, not his own. HE knows Anakin and Vader are the same person, you can see him improvising how to discuss this with Luke without giving that away AS IT HAPPENS. But he knows Luke does deserve to know about Anakin if he wants to, and he knows that Luke both deserves and needs to know the truth about Darth Vader and the part Obi-Wan played in it if Luke is going to start training now. But he also knows Luke ISN'T READY to hear that his father is a monstrous Sith Lord who betrayed everybody. And he's right. Luke isn't ready. He's not ready three years later, either. Luke MANAGES, but he wasn't truly ready to hear the truth on Bespin any more than he was on Tatooine.

And once he and Luke discuss the truth on Dagobah, there's absolutely no attempt to actually discuss Anakin and Vader as two separate people. He defends the lie with the "from a certain point of view" line, sure, but that's mostly him just saying "nothing I said was actually a lie, just a modified truth." He's being a little facetious here, too. But it's not him attempting to genuinely convince Luke that Anakin and Vader ARE two separate people.

And unlike Ahsoka, who appears to be legitimately deciding to just pretend Darth Vader never existed and Anakin never did anything wrong in his life ever, Obi-Wan DOES recognize it. That's the whole POINT of discussing Darth Vader with Luke, too. That's the whole point of admitting that Vader was OBI-WAN'S student when he absolutely did not have to tell Luke that at all. He knows exactly what Anakin's done and is perfectly capable of actually acknowledging it both to himself and out loud, to the point of being able to recognize his own part in the story too, he's just protecting Luke from that realization for the time being. Because Obi-Wan, of all people, knows how hard it can be to come to terms with what Anakin chose to become, and is sparing Luke from having to go through that until it's either absolutely necessary or until Luke's had more time to prepare for how to react to it.

But Ahsoka NEVER recognizes what Anakin's done. She doesn't discuss BOTH of them, she doesn't call "Vader" a traitor at any point. She never uses Vader to talk to Sabine about the choices she's making, or talks about her feelings about Vader's betrayal of the Jedi. She ONLY discusses Anakin and how great Anakin was. There's never any REAL acknowledgment, either internally or externally, that she knows what Anakin's done and become. Aside from the flickers in the vision, which could've been Anakin trying to FORCE her to acknowledge it if we interpret it as it actually being Anakin himself rather than just Ahsoka's fears made manifest. There's nothing like "He might've made choices I didn't agree with later, but he was a good master when I knew him" to show that she CAN see both sides of it. NOTHING. Even if she USED to acknowledge it before, perhaps, she's choosing not to anymore. She's choosing to act like Vader just never happened because she can't cope if she does. She HAS to only acknowledge Anakin as she knew him and act like Anakin just died a Jedi and never did anything wrong ever in his life or she'll SHATTER.

That's NOT what Obi-Wan's doing, at all.

Even if we take the Kenobi show into account, Obi-Wan's choice to say "My friend is truly dead" is out of acknowledgment of Anakin's own statements. It's pretty CLEARLY metaphorical, it's Obi-Wan recognizing that Anakin is beyond saving, that Anakin is making a choice to be THIS and nothing Obi-Wan can say or do will change that. He's choosing to grieve the person he loved rather than clinging to this idea that Anakin might change. Anakin's made his choice and all Obi-Wan can do now is move on and let him go. But he DOES know it's Anakin, he DOES acknowledge that it's Anakin. He can't do anything else, he's literally staring at Anakin's face as he says it. That line is him telling Anakin that he's washing his hands of him from now on. It's a "Fine, if you want to pretend that Anakin is dead, I'll let you, but that means I'm done with you now and you can't manipulate me through that relationship anymore."

One of these is a healthy way to handle the situation and the other is uh. Not. I'll let you take your guess as to which is which.

[adragonsfriend]

The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good, Dooku Style

Finally reading Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi by @stonefreeak and it got me thinking about what Dooku could’ve chosen to do with his position on Serenno.

Instead of delivering hundreds of worlds into the power of corporate interests to accumulate the power necessary to start a galactic war, he could’ve set about unionising those dissatisfied worlds for greater voting power in the Senate. Attempted to organise a peaceful exodus from the Republic. He could’ve just focused on helping out Serenno. He could’ve used Serenno as a platform for advocacy or as a humanitarian (sentiantarian?) outpost in the outer rim—in maybe conjunction with the Jedi or with other charitable groups, whichever.

Nobody cries over Sidious doing bad things, because he’s not narratively presented as a person (in the movies at least)—he’s more symbolic than anything. But Dooku shares Anakin’s fate. He’s a person, a good person with values, relationships to other people, and a desire to help others, who does unspeakable things because he becomes attached to his own ideas of perfection. It’s not an individual he can’t face grieving (well. it is a little bit about Qui-Gon too), but his inability to build a perfect society (anakin has some of this too) that makes him unable to accept his own limitations or ask for help.

All the suggestions above—unions, allies, charities, etc—they all require working with others, trusting that other people want what you want, that hope and compassion are not relics of a dying age, but powerful things which persist regardless of whatever victories which cruelty thinks it has achieved (through Power I gain Victory).

Dooku’s perfectionism—with a little help from Sidious—convinces him he is alone in wanting to change things (Peace is a lie, there is only Passion), and that suffering, his own and others, is the only way to make the rest of the world understand how it needs to act (through Passion I gain Strength). It is an incredibly individualist, not to mention lonely, set of beliefs (through Victory my chains are Broken, the Force shall free me).

It all leads neatly to the propositions:

If i can just tear down enough of society, then i will finally have enough control I need—and deserve—to build something perfect in its place;

I—or the decisive, pragmatic leader i put all my faith in—am the only person who can exercise this power to fix everything;

Any goal less than fixing everything is unworthy, and people who claim otherwise are unworthy of being included in the perfection I will create.

He’s (parts of) both Anakin and the Republic Senate’s arcs a decade early and in a single character. Fascism in a bottle.

In conclusion, a show about Dooku’s radicalisation over time could say some incredibly insightful things about US politics—by which I mean the Republican Party in general, Trumpism, the struggle of Democrats to unify, etc. Such a show probably shouldn’t be made because it would get twisted into a “and that’s why poor baby Dooku is sad and deserves everyone’s bowing-and-scraping-sympathy,” thing (which is not to say radicalized people do not deserve compassion—in fact they require it, lest we circle back to make our own little fascism), but if it was made it should feature Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan narrating and heckling Dooku as time traveling force ghosts (in between seeking genuine understanding of the past through Dooku’s decisions) because calling him weird would I think have the about the same effect as calling US republicans weird is having right now.

[marvelstars]

The attachment issue, Luminara and Anakin

So you know there is moment in clone wars where Barris and Ahsoka get buried under a ton of rocks and their teachers argue about how going rescuing her.

This moment I believe was made to show the problem when the attachment part of the code gets interpreted to it´s extreme conclusion imo.

Here Luminara talks to Anakin about his "attachment issues" that he needs to "let his apprentice go" obey the "will of the force" etc and you know, in normal circunstances, she would not be wrong about telling Anakin "letting go" of people who died some years or even days ago even if it definitely is insensitive and the last thing a grieving person would like to hear at that moment.

The problem here is that she is already talking about Barris and Ahsoka as if they were already dead mere minutes after being buried by rocks and in this particular case, not looking for them after a crash like that, could count as the reason WHY they died, in these cases time is essential to rescue as much people as you can because their oxigen could be cut or they could be crusched etc and I believe a Jedi Master like Luminara would be aware of this but she is too busy criticizing Anakin on his "attachment issues" instead of looking for both padawans with her jedi senses.

Anakin is so used of this happening of having this discussion with the Jedi Order, that he no longer argues with Luminara, he already had this same discussion with Obi-Wan hundreds of times so instead he barely pays her attention because HE IS TOO BUSY looking for Ahsoka to make sure she is still alive to RESCUE HER AND BARRIS but he also takes the time to comfort Luminara when she believes Barris is already dead.

For her part Barris is already getting ready to die almost as if it´s the WILL OF THE FORCE, it isn´t, this made me sad because she truly ressembled the clones who told Plo Koon about no one going looking for them because they are expendable, in Barris case it isn´t the will of the force, she is giving out way too early and is telling Ahsoka to do the same but they are Jedi, they are trained, they can try to scape or call their masters for help which is what Ahsoka does because that´s what Anakin teached her.

In the end Luminara IS HAPPY for getting her padawan back but she still believe she was 100 % right about giving anakin the attachment issue talk not considering the actual circunstances at all, Anakin is happy because Ahsoka and Barris are alive and Ahsoka is happy because she is alive and her master came for her just like he said he would in cases like this one.

But you know who ISN´T COMPLETELY HAPPY? Barris, she is grateful for being alive but she also expected, maybe, a little more worry from her master? who she loves as a mother?

I love how this goes unsaid because before this incident Barris was criticizing Anakin as well, about his "war mongering ways" and while she has not changed her oppinion about him she looks a little bit jealous of the kind of relationship Anakin and Ahsoka have, not because she wants Anakin to be her master, in fact Anakin and Barris are almost the same age but because she would like to have that kind of relationship with Luminara.

This is what I meant when I sa that while in theory the Jedi code is functional, in practice and in it´s interpretation it´s become unbalanced and it´s become a reason for the Jedi lose their balance as well because they have become so dettachted, they have become used to let their own or other people die way too early imo and this is part of why Anakin really could not agree with them, people should care for others, after all that´s what his Mom teached him "the biggest problem in the galaxy is that no one helps each other" right? and in this particular moment he is 100 % right and gets to rescue everybody, for his worry and compassion, those are some of his best qualities and as a jedi he put them in practice to honor his mother.

This also brings the question, does Anakin have attachment issues or he has a problem with the Jedi interpretation of attachment? some food for thought.

[ficfinder-general]

Heyo I have a very broad ask that I, myself cannot properly find

Just Ahsoka being Obi-wans padawan with codywan on the side

Cody and Ahsoka being besties is also greatly appreciated

Hi,

I'm so so sorry about the late reply, I totally forgot about this ask, it was buried in my drafts. I can't recall many fics like this, but I've been trying to put together a tiny list.

Ahsoka as Obi-Wan's padawan

Handle with care by K_R_Closson - Qui-Gon survives & Stewjoni have wings in this AU, which makes for some interesting worldbuilding. BUT to be fair, this is more codywan with taking Ahsoka as a padawan on the side but it does happen this also happens later on, so minor spoiler alert Rated M (mostly for language, though, if I recall correctly), 75k, completed, fix-it

Bitter Dregs by Livsy - AU in which Anakin goes undercover during the Rako Hardeen arc. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan grieve and try to move on. Bonus small moment between Ahsoka and Cody, 5.6k long one shot

Alpha-17 Would Like A Fucking Break by BitterChocolateStars (@bitter-chocolate-stars) another AU in which Qui-Gon survived. It's told from Alpha-17's POV which makes it h i l a r i o u s but also both codywan and Ahsoka-as-Obi-Wan's-padawan are on the side. 15k long one shot, fix-it.

Careless to let it fall by Artemisdesari - This one is ongoing and pretty long already (140k atm!), and to be perfectly honest, I haven't read all of it yet, but I like it so far, and Ahsoka does become Obi-Wan's padawan :)

Cody & Ahsoka

At cuyir payt nor'be by onepageatatime715 - a ficlet, Ahsoka is looking for Obi-Wan but finds Cody, very sweet :)

[tending-the-hearth]

Questions that endlessly haunt me: Do Rex and Cody know what happened to their Generals?

Does Cody know Obi-wan survived? Did he know he died on the Death Star? Did Cody see a report come in from the Death Star that Vader had killed Obi-wan? If he did, how would he feel about it? Would he grieve? Would he be indifferent? Would he be pleased? Would he pretend not to care but internally be a mess? Did he feel ashamed for failing to carry out Order 66? Relieved but conflicted? If he had found out Obi-wan was hiding out on Tattooine would he simply report it or track Obi-wan down himself? Would he seek to finish Order 66 or go to beg forgiveness?

Did Rex ever find out what Anakin became? Ahsoka knew but would she have told him? Or would she keep it secret?How would it affect their relationship either way? Would Rex recognize him if he saw Vader fighting? Would he feel betrayed? Angry? Heartbroken? How would Vader react if he saw him? Rex never betrayed Anakin or did anything that could be interpreted as such? Would Vader let him live? try and give him the mercy of a quick death? How would that go down? Did Rex ever met Luke? Or see him on a rebel base or ship? If he did, would he recognize who he was or his lightsaber first? How would Rex feel about Luke? Happy? Nostalgic? Amused? Sad? Uncomfortable?

(Bare in mind i have never seen Bad Batch or the last couple seasons of clone wars)

i'm curled up in my bed sobbing over all of this 😭😭😭😭

so, going off of what we know from Bad Batch, Cody eventually does defect, or he's at least listed as MIA. When we see him in the show, there's definitely a few moments where we see his regret and pain over what's happened, leading to his ultimate MIA classification. we don't knwo what happens to him after that, but i like to believe that Cody found out where Obi-Wan was, and got into contact with him, and the two were able to safely and happily reunite!

I do think Ahsoka would tell Rex that Anakin is Vader, either during their moments together in Rebels, or after Anakin's death. Anakin was so important to both of them that I think Ahsoka wouldn't be able to hide it from him.

When it comes to Luke, Rex is the one Anakin trusted the most with his relationship with Padme. In the last season of The Clone Wars, we see Rex covering for Anakin while he's on a call with Padme. I think Rex would be overjoyed to meet Luke, and just immediately see so much of his general and his favorite senator in him. Rex would also IMMEDIATELY clock that Leia is Luke's twin, she looks far too much like Padme, and her snark is so purely Anakin that if he closes his eyes, he hears his general.

After Anakin's death, I think Rex would sit with both the twins and share stories, not just of Anakin, but also of Padme, and the time that he spent with them. it's bittersweet, but also heartwarming, because Rex gets to pass on the stories of the people he cared about to more people he cares about

[fanfic-obsessed]

Lured to the Light on Accident

Ok, all you Jedi, Sith, and Force Nulls (and anyone who is none of the above), here we go again. Just a warning, Palpatine gets off far more lightly than he probably should. Also I keep having deja vu as I write this, but can’t find any indication I have posted it before. If someone knows different, please tell me.  It makes me wonder if I thought about this one so hard I thought I wrote it…

It starts at the end of the Naboo crisis.  Sheev Palpatine, Darth Sidious, is all too aware that a man of his power requesting the company of a young boy, without his guardian, from a group of people he has an unbelievable amount of control over is not a good look on anyone.  Even with that young boy being a hero on his planet, particularly since there were two living Jedi heroes of the Naboo Crisis. 

So he invites both Obi Wan and Anakin to meet with him. Obi Wan, though he does have some suspicion around most politicians, is also grieving, hurting, too young, and trying to keep up with a nine year olds energy without letting on that he is struggling. He thinks, incorrectly, that even implying he might need help from anyone in the Jedi temple means that Anakin would be taken from him (this belief is preyed on by Palpatine, who is very good at making people doubt each other). And frankly Palpatine can get Anakin to sit quietly for an entire hour, even take a nap occasionally. 

There are days that Obi Wan would have nominated Palpatine for sainthood on that alone. 

Of course Palpatine sees a chance to corrupt another Jedi, plus corrupting this particular Jedi would pave the way for him to take control of Anakin, and he could just kill him later if need be.   So he starts these ‘devil's advocate’ debates with Obi Wan where he picks qualities of the Jedi and Sith (as he perceives them) and tries to make Obi Wan choose one or the other and defend it. As far as Palptine is concerned he can work with whichever choice Obi Wan chooses, can refer back to the debate if he wants to make Obi Wan seem hidebound or a hypocrite when the time comes to break the relationship between Obi Wan and Anakin.

Only…Obi Wan does not quite cooperate. No matter what the ‘qualities’ that Palpatine chooses (always geared to be backhanded insults to the Jedi Order), Obi Wan always, always, always argues that the key is to act with compassion.  And he’s good at it. Obi Wan thinks that Palpatine is helping him teach Anakin how to disagree with someone without getting nasty, how to debate for fun and games, so goes into each debate with all of his focus and energy and effort but no vitriol.  By the time Palptine even thinks to make an argument to make compassion seem like a weakness, he is intrigued by these debates. By this argument of acting with compassion first and foremost. 

It should be noted that, for all that Palpatine was working toward the genocide of the Jedi and was creating all kinds of vaguely plausible propaganda, he had actually rarely interacted with the Jedi beyond the superficial, until Obi Wan and Anakin, (even with Yan Dooku, since the focus was on corrupting the Jedi, not understanding him) so does not actually know what what is and is not a Jedi trait outside of rumors.  

These debates change Palpatine. Oh, not at once, not in weeks or months or even years. But with such a creeping slowness that it is unnoticeable, Palpatine changes. The compassion Obi Wan talks about so enthusiastically sinks into his bones. Of course, every time Palpatine finds himself acting with compassion, he has a ready excuse for himself (to gain an ally, hurting that person would be more effort than it was worth, etc.). He also finds that he genuinely begins to enjoy Obi Wan and Anakin’s company (and begins to feel somewhat paternal toward them), and can genuinely call both master and padawan his friends. 

This does not stop Dooku’s corruption, though Palpatine is more careful not to let the Jedi know he is a Sith. It doesn't even stop the clone wars.  The first large effect that this infusion of compassion has is with the Coruscant Guard. These were the first beings that Palpatine interacted with that were, without a doubt, innocent. In Palpatine's mind he could make an argument that every other being or group has some responsibility, no matter how small for what is coming. But the Clones do not. What’s more, Palpatine perceives the Coruscant Guard as his. They were his personal clones. Palpatine is still undoubtedly a Sith, and though Compassion has infected him, he is obsessively protective of what he considered his. 

Palpatine quickly manufactures reasons to do away with, by death or other means, many of his more odious allies. All of them for the crime of laying a hand on his Coruscant Guard. He treats the CG with all the compassion that he had, instead of just paying lip service when cameras are on.  And in return the CG are as loving and loyal to him as the rest of the GAR is to the Jedi generals.  In fact, for every act of compassion he performs, he finds that he is rewarded with admiration and later love (and not just from the clones). It becomes a cycle of reinforcement drawing him from the depths of the evil he has sunk to.  

Do not get me wrong, Palpatine is not a good person. For the first two years of the war he is still actively working toward the death of the Jedi and the enslavement of the clones.  He is still leading both sides of the war, if a little more hands off from the Separatists. He may consider Obi Wan a friend, but that mainly means he intends to make sure his death is painless (as even now he could see how Operation Knightfall and Order 66 would hurt Obi Wan immensely and wanted to spare him that). 

Then comes the day when Obi Wan brings his Commander to meet the Chancellor. They have come to, among other things, announce their engagement and their intention to marry after the war was over.  Obi Wan wants Palptine to officiate. In this world the Anidala elopement is well known, and accepted, and both Obi Wan and Palpatine have playfully bitched to each other (and to Anakin and Padme) about not getting to be there for the wedding. 

Palpatine is beyond flattered, and ecstatic for his friend and the love that he had found. In his head he begins to plan the outfit he would wear as the officiant. It is two hours later, in his apartment, that it hits him. He had been thinking about how Fox, one of his commanders, had talked about his brother Cody. How much Cody loved Obi Wan and how happy Fox was that they were getting married. Palpatine realized that if things go as planned, there will be no wedding, as both the grooms would be dead, or as good as. That epiphany it trailed into the realization that his clones, even if they remain free, would have to face their enslaved brothers. The brothers he enslaved. Somehow that shakes him as nothing else, the thought that the Coruscant Guard might lose their regard for him for enslaving their brothers.

In that instant he decided that the love he could feel from the clones was more important than any Sith plan. (Frankly, I can think of few things more Sithlike than deciding their own wants mean more than the 1000 year plan that is almost complete) Which meant that he would need to dismantle the plan without giving away what he was. 

Luckily he has always had a patsy around, just in case the great Sith plan was discovered too early. 

His first step is to arrange the deaths of anyone who knows that Sheev Palpatine is Darth Sidious (frankly there aren’t many).  Then he pulls out the fake correspondence he has on hand for this kind of occasion (Not for nothing Palpatine is a planner, I have no doubt he has a plan to frame someone else as Sidious) that does a very good job of implying that Sidious had control of Palpatine, and would use him to enact Order 66 and a report about the chips by the Kamionoans to Dooku.  He uses the same techniques he had employed to hide his Dark presence, to create a facade in his mind. 

Then he has Commander Fox, and a handful of other CG, to escort him to the Jedi temple.  He makes a show of acting strangely, closing in on frantic one moment, dazed the next, saying strange things about needing to tell the Jedi and ‘forgetting’ he said anything a moment later.  Generally do an excellent job of appearing as if he was breaking through some kind of control. They get him in front of the Jedi High Council, the members still on planet (Mace Windu, Obi Wan Kenobie, Yoda, Ki Adi Mundi) and he hands over the information. In between ‘fits’ (at one point letting his darkness out to change his eyes, then having it change back) he describes waking up in his office to see the documents on the Padd he handed over. Realizing first what it meant for the Guard, then what it meant for his friends in the Jedi.  Feeling like he is fighting against something to even bring the documents this far but knowing that it was critical, to protect the Coruscant Guard. 

His act is bought. The trail he leaves (with just enough hints of evidence that doesn’t fit to keep it seem like it is frame-up) leads the Jedi exactly where he wanted them, to an aide in his office that has been with him since his earliest days.  This Aide (who is little more than a mindless puppet, with enough Force sensitivity to fool whatever tests the Jedi will do) claims to be Darth Sidious, does the villain’s monologue, shoots Sith lightning, and is killed by some very angry members of the Coruscant Guard. 

With the ‘Sith Master’ dead, the war ends swiftly.  Dooku surrenders for the Separatists on the condition that he gets an invitation to Obi Wan’s wedding.  The Clones begin the process of dechipping, and are given citizenship (with all the rights and back pay and a planet of their own) spearheaded by Palpatine, which wins him major points with the delegation of 2000. 

Palpatine is ‘cleared’ by the Jedi mindhealers (who contrary to their name do not actually look into anyone’s mind) and the small amount of darkness that lets show is listed as a side effect of being puppeted by a Sith for so long.  It is eventually decided, encouraged by Palpatine, that is was Palptine’s love for the clones that gave him a chance to fight back against Darth Sidious, but it was his friendship with Obi Wan and Anakin that gave him the strength to even break free enough to love the clones. Both Obi Wan and Anakin are required to go to mind healers as well, just in case Sidious did anything to them in the form of Palpatine. Because Palpatine chose, fairly early on, to not corrupt either of them but the natural damages of being at war were also discovered and worked on (In this universe Anakin did not slaughter the Tuskans. Without Palpatine actively sabotaging his and Obi Wan’s relationship, they were able to discuss his vision a bit more openly and Obi Wan got Vos to go save Shmi. Ironically her time held by the Tuskans, who were deeply impressed by her kindness even in the face of torture, let her learn enough that she was able to a major part of a treaty between the Tuskans and the Moisture Farmers).

Palpatine gracefully retires, making sure to give back all the emergency powers (so that the next Chancellor cannot use them) and steps into an advisory role, discovering that he has almost all the influence he had as Chancellor and none of the responsibility or blame. The death of his patsy gave Palpatine a reputation for being nigh on incorruptible, because all of of the small, infrequent acts of compassion or kindness throughout his time a Chancellor were seen as his true self breaking through the control of the horrible Sith (who was considered to have taken control of him as a child). In addition the Jedi made it extremely clear how rare it was to have the mental fortitude to break through Sith control.   

With all of the accolades, his all but legendary hero status through the Republic, the way his advice is accepted practically as law and good, Palpatine quickly realizes that he actually got everything most of his Sith Ancestors would have wanted.  Yes, the Jedi still live but he is welcomed among them (the perfect position to, should he decide to, corrupt the order from the inside out), and any darkness on his part will be ignored and remnants of ‘Darth Sidious’. He may not have an outright empire, but his advice continues to be sought out and implemented (99% he advocates for compassion, whatever is the most compassionate answer to the problem) and his influence is near universal. It did not matter how long a feud or argument had been going on, both sides would accept whatever compromise he suggested. 

He does get to be the officiant at the CodyWan wedding, most of the beings there are using the ceremony as another reason to roast Anidala for their elopement.  

Somehow everyone does get a happily ever after.

[golddustjedi]

the broken code

obi wan x jedi!reader

requested by @heyhawtdawgs

prompt #4: “Have you been drinking?”

word count: 534

warnings: alcohol use, suggestive themes

You stumbled back into your living quarters, the smell of jet juice heavy on your breath. It had been a hard week. One of your fellow Jedi was killed- no, murdered- a week ago. Though Jedi were supposed to form no connections, this one meant a lot to you. The two of you had been close since you were younglings, so even though it was against the code, you grieved a lot.

As you turned on the lights, though, you froze when you saw Obi-Wan sitting in a chair in the corner with his arms crossed.

“Y/n.”

“Obi-Wan.” You straightened and tried your damndest to sober up as fast as you could.

He stood and walked over to you. You kept your spine stiff and your chin up. It wasn’t enough, and the smell of jet juice gave you away.

“Have you been drinking?” He said in a serious voice.

“What does it matter to you?”

“You are to conduct yourself as a Jedi should, y/n. This is not a part of the code!”

You almost asked how he got in, but you remembered you gave him a key a couple of months ago after… well, you had always assumed you made two mistakes that night, given he pretended it never happened and he never used the key again. Until now.

“Might I point out that the way that you are acting is not a part of the code either, Obi-Wan.”

“That is not relevant.”

“I beg to differ.”

“I’m looking out for you, y/n. I’m worried for you.”

“Jedi can’t form attachments.” You clenched your jaw. You felt sober, but your boldness suggested otherwise.

“And look where that’s gotten you.” He gave an exhausted chuckle. “Look where that’s gotten the both of us. That night was a mistake, but…”

“That’s all it was- a mistake.” You ground out.

“Can you look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that?”

“What do you want from me? You came here to lecture me about breaking the code but yet it’s okay for you?”

“I don’t understand it, y/n. I’m trying to work this out. The Jedi Order comes first, but I can’t help but think about you every minute of the day. I can’t help but worry if you’re going to come back alive from your missions. I can’t help- I can’t help…”

“Say it.”

“I can’t help it if I’m in love with you.”

Before you could put any thought at all into it, you closed the space between the two of you and you locked your lips with his. And he didn’t break the kiss as he guided you to the bed. He started pulling your robes off, but suddenly pulled away, leaving you breathless.

“We can’t do this. You’re drunk.”

“Yes we can.”

“Y/n…”

“Obi-Wan, I’ve wanted this for months. Why else do you think I have you a key? I wanted you to use it because I’m in love with you. I want you. I need you.”

He contemplated for a moment.

“I’m sober enough to know that I will not regret waking up next to you in the morning.”

And that was all it took.

[ohyousillything]

I love the idea of Cody being anakin's superior officer. Like i know anakin is general, but the clones have the only real war training here, so Maybe Cody is like supervisor to generals with no experience.

I imagine Cody loathes anakin at first sight. He dislikes his brash Nature and the way he seems to have obiwan wrapped around his little finger. He hates that Rex worships anakin and that more often than not anakin's leadership choices end up with his vode in danger or injury, and that obi wan is just that tad bit more reckless when anakin is around. I see Cody as this inherently logical, practical guy, and anakin is the absolute opposite.

But i also picture Cody as a selfless, emphatetic person, and i think he wouldnt hold any of his own feelings against anakin. so he challenges anakin's every reckless plan with well Made strategies. He cuts into anakin's rash desicion making process and shows him how to weight odds and calculate risks. He makes him walk through every possible outcome before setting things in motion and teaches him how to deal with the fallout of a Bad desicion. He makes anakin walk through the aftermath of a battle, tend to the wounded, learn about wasted economies and hunger and the pain of civilians in destroyer worlds and helps anakin reach into the part of himself that understands all that, helps him work through his anger and negative Feelings by helping others, running relief missions, doing papaework. Because anakin was a tatooine slave, he knows about pain and poverty, so Cody makes him help people in menial missions between battle and it helps him connect with himself and his past experiences.

Anakin likes Cody Because he takes no shit from anyone and Because he never lets up, even when anakin is a brat or when he blows up after a failed mission. Where the Jedi would give him a lecture about cotrolling his Feelings and the darkside, where obi wan would look at him with dissapointment and guilt, Cody just raises an eyebrow and dares him to do better next time. And so anakin tries harder next time, and he does better.

and maybe they Bond over shared experiences of being belittled, of being treated as less than a person, and over their shared love of obi wan. And maybe anakin learns that having Feelings is ok, so long as You don't let them get in the way of being a good person.

Maybe Cody tells anakin about how the fear of losing his vode is a part of himself, but he never lets it drive him. Maybe he teaches anakin the recitation he says every night, where he lists all his vode that now march the stars. And maybe anakin tells Cody about shmi and about his dreams, and maybe Cody ads her to his list, and they start saying it together. Maybe anakin learns how to grieve without loss becoming a festering wound.

Maybe when he starts dreaming of padme's death he tells Cody first, and maybe Cody actually listens, seeing as the kid's dreams have come true before. Maybe its Cody anakin goes to, when the order makes him spy on palpatine. And maybe Cody tells him about his doubts regarding the Republic and the Chancellor, and maybe anakin listens. And maybe it's Cody anakin calls first, when palpatine reveals himself, and maybe Cody listens to him and trusts him, and they make a plan, they filter the info to obi wan and other Jedi through the vode. Maybe it helps them ride out order 66.

Maybe people still die and things Go to shit, but at least anakin has someone in his corner that gives less than two fucks about the force or the darkside, and who trusts him Because he's anakin and not Because he's the chosen one or whatever, someone who understands, and that helps him make better choices.

Cody's just a good guy doing his job and doing it well, and if that means he has to become a father figure to a guy 10+ years older than himself then so be it. And maybe a bunch of random acts of kindness make the galaxy a better place.

[mommymothma]

Um I'm sorry this week's episode of Ahsoka???

The flashbacks, the fire the war, the death?

Ahsoka taking Anakin back to the siege of mandalore and then FIGHTING him there? As if it wasn't traumatic enough the first time.

I am really leaning into the idea that Ahsoka is stuck in this loop of trying to be like her master, but also not trying to.

The way she expresses the tiniest bit of resentment for who Anakin became because why wouldn't she?

I feel like so many times characters are tip toeing around Anakin, and his descent into Vader. I wish Obi-wan had known its OKAY to be upset. It's OKAY to grieve the person you knew while simultaneously acknowledging who they became.

Ashoka sees it real time. The reflections of her past show her that the darkness was always there, she just didn't see it. And it SCARES her that the darkness might have been instilled into her, too.

Gawd the imagery too, Anakin rushing into the smoke and flames, the flash of his red bald and Vader helmet, only to be Anakin again.

The call back to Tales of the Jedi's "the best way I can protect you is by teaching you to protect yourself"

I know in the clone wars Ahsoka is a child, I know that, but seeing her in live action, acted out by a child is just... so real. She was commanding an army. The weight of the galaxy was on her shoulders and she wouldn't have even been in highschool.

I have one complaint. One. And it's; LET THEM CRY.

Why does no one ever cry? She stares ominously into the wind, but I feel like there was a perfect moment for an emotional breakdown, or a crack in her voice, a sole tear being shed as she separates from her master one last time. We saw Rex cry in the clone wars let Ahsoka, and Obi-wan cry dammit, let them MOURN their friend, and everything they'd ever known.

On the Hera side of things, I love her. I love that she's willing to lose it all for her family. And I have a feeling this isn't the last time we are going to see her. I would also anticipate she'll be joined by a friend the next time we see her.

The new republic is so annoying Hera should leave they don't know what they got 💅

[formlessvoidbeast]

“Padawan,” Master Qui-Gon's voice drifted to him in the shared space of meditation. “What does the Force tell you of Mandalore?” “They do not need us any more, Master,” Obi-Wan said. The Force was clear. Their part of the story, small as it had been, was finished. Master Qui-Gon met him with a sense of quiet pride for having seen so clearly. “And what do you feel, Padawan-mine?” he asked. “Hope,” Obi-Wan said. He had so much hope for the future of the sector. “And pride.” Satine and Jango and all their people had done so much, and so well, to earn their victory. “...and grief. Master, I grieve.”

and breathe in the bright moments chapter 1 of 2

First chapter of the next fic in my jangobi series just dropped! Obi-Wan's perspective at the end of the Mandalore mission.

Enjoy!